Debate on future strategy after Civil Disobedience Movement

Debate on future strategy after civil Disobedience movement

In the Aftermath of the withdrawal of the Civil Disobedience Movement, a debate emerged among the nationalists regarding the future course of action in the near term. Different debate was initiated as follows:

• While Gandhi emphasized constructive work, which he thought would consolidate the masses for the next phase of the mass struggle, another section of the Congress wanted to revive constitutional struggle and participate in the elections to the central legislative assembly.
• The second stage of the debate started in 1937 on the question of office acceptances in the context of provincial elections held under the Government of India Act 1935.

The First stage of the debate

Constructive work vs. Constitutional struggle

After the withdrawal of the movement in 1934, Gandhi was in favour of constructive work in the villages, especially the revival of the village crafts. At the same time, other members of Congress were in favour of a constitutional struggle through entry into the council. Different debates were:

• According to Gandhi, constructive work will consolidate people’s power and mobilise the masses in the next phase of the struggle.
• The other group in the Congress, led by M A Ansari and Asaf Ali, Bhulabhai Desai, and B C Pal, argued in favour of council entry to keep up the political interest and morale of the people.
• C Rajagopalachari, who was earlier a no-changer, recommended the Swarajist approach to Gandhi. According to him, legislative work would enable the Congress to gain prestige and confidence among the masses.
• The new swarajists argued that participating in legislative activity is not tantamount to faith in constitutional politics. It only means opening another political front which would build up Congress, extend its influence and prepare the masses for the next struggle.

The Third Front

• The strong leftist trend that emerged in the early 1930s was critical of both the traditional responses.
• According to them, both the traditional responses would side-track direct mass action and divert attention from the struggle against British rule.
• Nehru’s vision:
  • Nehru represented the new leftist alternative to Gandhi’s method.
  • He presented his ideas in Lucknow’s presidential address and the Faizpur session of Congress. According to him, the basic goal before the Indian people should be abolishing Capitalism and establishing socialism.
  • He also pointed out the shortcomings of the present nationalist ideology and stressed the need to inculcate socialist ideology.
  • Nehru considered the withdrawal of the movement, constructive work and council entry as “spiritual defeat”, “surrender of ideals”, and going back to the moderate phase of the national struggle.
  • Alienation with Gandhi: In his jail diary, Nehru wrote, “Our objectives are different, our ideals are different, our spiritual outlook was different, and our methods are likely to be different”.
• Nehru’s opposition to the Struggle-Truce-Struggle (S-T-S) strategy of Gandhi:
  • The Gandhian strategy was described as struggle-truce-struggle, which involved a vigorous extra-constitutional mass struggle followed by a truce phase.
  • In the truce phase, direct confrontation with the government is avoided, and the focus is on constitutional reform and concession from the government.
  • Nehru accepted that movements had to go through the upswing and downswing phases, but there should not be any passive phase or situation of compromise.
  • Struggle-Victory (S-V) strategy: Nehru was in favour of a continuous struggle against colonial rule till freedom was achieved.

Finally, the Compromise

• Gandhi averted another split in the nationalistic ranks by conceding the demands of the proponents of the council entry.
• He said that even though their path could not achieve freedom, they should not remain unoccupied. They could express their patriotic energies through council work when there was no mass movement, provided they didn’t resort to self-serving.
• In May 1934, Under Gandhi’s guidance, the AICC meeting at Patna decided to set up the parliamentary board to fight the elections under the aegis of Congress.
• Gandhi appeased the left by backing Nehru for the presidency of the Lucknow Congress despite opposition from rightist leaders like C Rajagopalachari.
• Gandhi, finding himself out of sync with the emerging trends of the Congress, announced his resignation from the Congress in October 1934.